20+ Restaurant Marketing Action Plan Examples – PDF

Setting up a restaurant without a plan can be tough to businessmen and restaurateurs who have no plans whatsoever on how it should be run in the first place. If you are a newbie in the food industry, then it is high time that you quit slacking around and start working your butt off if you want to see your restaurant alive and well even after you are long gone. You may also see marketing action plan examples.

Engaging the enemy head on without a plan can cost you your entire army and line of defense. All good things must have some sort of plan to keep it going. Here are some of the tips that you can take. People normally ask on what a marketing plan is and what is its ultimate purpose to businessmen and local entrepreneurs.

Marketing Mix with Four P’s

1. Foodie Photos

Everyone these days is on social media. And when they get the opportunity to see something that catches their eye, they would normally reach out for their cameras and picture whatever they can. It can be anything, really.

Food, clothes, the night sky, the beautiful sunrise, people, architectural structures, society as it is today, among countless of others. So while you are still reading this, why don’t you try experimenting with photography even for a little bit? People just know and love a good photo when they see one. You may also see business action plan examples.

Especially when the picture just blooms with aesthetic elements. Take food for instance. It may seem just like an ordinary piece of steak, but if you take a look at the plating and the presentation of the said dish, it somehow attracts people to “like” your post and eventually lead them to ask you as to which restaurant you went to picture that. You may also like digital marketing plan examples.

There are numerous elements to something simple as a foodie photo: angle, lighting, arrangement of elements, among others. So, if ever the chef comes up with new dishes for the restaurant, it is best to immediately picture them and to promote their deliciousness for the whole world to see. You may also see some examples of simple business plans for more information and reference.

2. Loyalty Programs

Partnering up with online food apps should definitely be a consideration as part of your restaurant marketing plan. Partnering with online apps encourages visitors to check out your restaurant through gamification and customer loyalty programs, which offer visitors a free purchase or discount for visiting a certain number of times.

Another way to show how much you value your customers and clients would be to hand out loyalty cards to all patrons of the institution. If customers do not see their efforts being rewarded in one way or another, how would they feel valued by the institution? They might as well look for a new restaurant that offers loyalty programs and promotions to patrons. Who knows? They might even get some freebies. Here are more examples of plans that you may refer to.

3. Send Out an Email Newsletter

It does not really have to be on a daily basis. In sending out a newsletter, you just have to find the right time for it to become relevant. Too many newsletters and it eventually turns out to become spam mail.

Newsletters usually contain various promotions, feature articles, and new information about what is happening in the establishment. When you send these out to your clients and buyers, it serves as a reminder for them to return to the restaurant in order to discover what new and exciting things await them should they decide to revisit the place once more. You may also check out employee action plan examples.

Sometimes, these newsletters would always come up various coupons and discounts for loyal patrons to use whenever they visit as a way to boost customer traffic. You may also see on how executive summaries of marketing plans are made for further details and reference.

Social Media Presence for a Restaurant

Marketing Objectives of an Organic Restaurant

4. Show Off Your Staff

What makes a restaurant or a hotel what it is today is not just its food, it ambiance, its design, its price, or its amenities, but it also includes the human factor, aka the service and the hospitality of the venue. Imagine yourself staying in one of the best hotels this world has to offer. And suddenly, that gets ruined because of people who are rude, unkind, undisciplined, not so courteous, unfriendly people, among others. You might be interested in apartment marketing plan examples.

In the service industry, anyone who possesses one of these traits are unfit to work in the service industry any longer and should find other jobs elsewhere. These people are the soul of any service industry. Without the soul, the heart my still beat, but it is just no longer the same anymore. Remember, without these people, there is no point in calling your business a service industry in the first place. You may also check out examples of emergency plans for more details and information.

5. Monitor Your Social Media Presence

As mentioned before, everyone can now be reached and contacted thanks to the power of social media and technological advancement. People would no longer have to go to extreme lengths just to find out what you are selling or even for an interview. You may also see sales action plan examples.

All that people would have to do is just to look it up on the Internet and/or give them a call on the phone to ask regarding the information they are looking for. It is more important than ever that you learn to build up your social media presence online so that people will have a way to get more new and updated information faster. You may also like integrated marketing plan examples.

Do not forget that it is even free thanks to various social media platforms that you can readily use without that exerting that much effort. Share it to your friends. Ask them to like it and make comments as well. Eventually, they will end up sharing that same post and the cycle ultimately repeats itself. There is a term in broadcasting that occurs in radio broadcasting when no audio program is transmitted for an extended period of time, usually more than a few seconds, called dead air.

Once people start to forget about you, you have to do what you can to make yourself become known again. Monitor your social media presence and keep it alive all the time. If you have new promotions or new information to share, then go. You may also check out event plans examples for more details and information.

6. Share Positive Press

If you think the word-of-mouth is irrelevant, then you are wrong. In fact, it is known to be the oldest form of promotion and marketing even before the existence of newspapers, radios, and televisions. People who have friends and families would normally take their word for it when he or she starts to say, “Hey. Let us eat here for dinner,” or, “Hey. Let us not eat here. I tried their food before and it is not as good as you think.Let us just eat somewhere else instead.” First impressions are important, most especially to newcomers. You may also check out SMART action plan examples.

In Gordon Ramsay’s new show, 24 Hours to Hell and Back, you do not see him walking into the restaurant directly. Instead, you see him wearing some sort of disguise so that he can observe the place as it is without them realizing that they were being evaluated by the famous food critic on earth. You might be interested in personal marketing plan examples.

When you manage to get good and great feedback from someone renowned and popular, you should use the opportunity to share it and post it on your website or social media page to know that those critics have been there and that everything about the restaurant is fabulous and excellent. Here are some examples of management plans for your reference.

Restaurant Marketing Goals

Situational and SWOT Analysis

7. Start a Blog

Starting your own blog is a great way to build community and engage with your customers.

Blogs offer the chance to experiment with your restaurant’s voice and personality. Share your successes and struggles, funny stories, recipes, and anything else you think might interest your customers. Try to keep your blog as simple or complex as you’d like. With that in mind, there is no reason for you to be posting blog posts from time to time. Here are some examples of wedding plans that you may like to check out.

8. Food Blogger Outreach

Food bloggers. And yes, it is a real thing. Whether they consider it as a hobby or a profession, it does not really matter. What is important is that you try to reach out to them for them to locally promote your food in attempt to boost foot traffic into the establishment. Or better yet, they come to you and will freely promote the establishment without you paying them. You may also see event marketing plan examples.

The more popular the food blogger is, the more chances of success your restaurant might be able to gain. But here is the catch though. Food bloggers rarely make themselves known. Because you may never know when the day will come that you might be visited by someone famous. Deliver terrible service and expect terrible reviews. Here are some examples of action plans that you may refer to.

9. Have a Sleek, Functional Online Menu

Let us get one thing straight: people are very busy. Sometimes, they do not have time to go to the restaurant and check out the menu just so that they can have a dinner reservation there.

Even when they can call by phone, customers and clients will not have enough time to remember the whole menu as it is just being spoken over the phone. So, the best thing that you can possibly do would be to have an online, functional and modern and up-to-date menu. The attractive menu online should obviously be the same one found on the premises itself. Having an online menu presents many advantages.

For instance, the moment that people will walk in to order their food, they already know what to call as they have seen and read the menu beforehand. Even if they did have some questions that they would like to ask the staff, it will not be as much anymore since they have more or less an idea on what it is supposed to be like. Here are some more business plans examples that you can check out.

Example Menu of a Food Truck

Assessing and Re-evaluating Restaurant Marketing Plans

10. Partner Up with Delivery Services

Almost everyone who has a mobile phone is now on their way to making the digital shift. Way back then, restaurants would normally place their numbers on tarpaulins and on billboards to let people know that they can contact this number to have their food delivered. But now, everyone is relying on mobile apps and websites to acquire their food delivery service since it is faster and easier and even more efficient. Here are some more examples on project plans.

Apps like honestbee and Foodpanda have already partnered up with numerous food establishments and it is growing by the day. Can you really pass the opportunity to explore more food choices when you already have the mobile app installed on your phone? Here are some more examples of work plans that you can also check out.

11. Offer Coupons and Discounts

Coupons and discounts? Who on earth does not love them? 20 percent off on this food item. Buy 1 Take 1 tasty Pizza from New Orleans Pizzeria. Free desert for every $20 purchase. It is one way to get the crowds coming. But truth be told, this is just a marketing scheme. Sometimes, you just end up getting scammed. Sometimes, the older and uglier models are getting discounts instead of the nicer and cooler things. Sometimes, it is not a discount at all.

Key Business Plan and Marketing Plan Elements

Existing Marketing-Mix with Marketing Segmentation

12. Start a Food Truck

While this is not the worst idea on the planet, this is not also the best idea that one can have. Some advantages that a mobile food truck possesses is that it is mobile and it is not that costly to maintain since you are not paying any rent and that you do not have any construction costs whatsoever. You may also see restaurant marketing plan examples.

You can always choose to stay in one place or you can stay in multiple. But your food options are obviously limited. For one thing, you can only and serve easy-to-cook food such as hamburgers, hot dogs, tortillas, quesadillas, among others. It is important that you take into consideration on how limited the space of a food truck can be. You may also like what is an action plan?

But through the word-of-mouth and good marketing tactics, success is almost guaranteed. It can also be a good way to make your food known throughout the whole state and even the whole country as customers will most likely flock to you instead of them going to you. But at the end of the day, everything becomes a risk. The big question, however, is are you willing to take it? You may also check out product marketing plan examples.